PARIS / EuroWire / — France and the Netherlands said on Thursday that people being monitored after possible exposure to hantavirus linked to the cruise ship MV Hondius had tested negative, easing immediate concern in two of the countries most closely involved in the response. French authorities said 26 people under observation in France were negative, while Dutch authorities said people brought to the Netherlands on evacuation flights from the ship had also tested negative in initial screening. Both countries said monitoring and repeat testing would continue because the incubation period can extend for weeks.
French Health Minister Stéphanie Rist said the 26 people under observation in France would continue to be medically monitored and tested three times a week. Twenty two were identified through contact tracing linked to a Saint Helena to Johannesburg flight, or to a Johannesburg to Amsterdam flight that a Dutch passenger from the ship had been due to take before she was taken to hospital in South Africa. French doctors are also monitoring four other passengers from the vessel, while one French passenger who tested positive remains hospitalized in serious condition.
In the Netherlands, the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, or RIVM, said the first flight from Tenerife brought 26 people, including eight Dutch passengers, to Eindhoven on May 10 and that samples taken on arrival were negative. RIVM said the testing was the first step in medical monitoring, not the end of it, and that passengers arriving on later flights were also screened as the Netherlands kept all people who had been on board under quarantine and daily follow up.
Hantavirus testing turns to prolonged monitoring
The negative results in France and the Netherlands come as health authorities continue to manage an outbreak that prompted a multinational evacuation and tracing effort after illness spread on the MV Hondius during an expedition voyage. The World Health Organization said on May 13 that 11 cases had been reported, including three deaths. Of those, eight were laboratory confirmed Andes virus infections, two were classed as probable cases and one case in the United States remained inconclusive and under further testing.
Dutch authorities have kept the response focused on isolation and repeat checks because the Andes strain is unusual among hantaviruses in that person to person transmission can occur, although only in rare circumstances and close contact. RIVM said the first tests in the Netherlands were intended as baseline screening and that those repatriated would remain in home isolation or designated quarantine locations for 42 days from May 6, with weekly testing and daily contact by municipal health services.
Wider response stays on alert
The Dutch government has said all passengers from the ship have now been repatriated, while the vessel continues toward Rotterdam with 25 crew members and two medical workers on board for health monitoring. Those remaining on the ship are due to follow Dutch quarantine procedures on arrival. Earlier testing in the Netherlands had also returned negative results in three people who developed symptoms after exposure on an airplane, adding to the run of negative findings among monitored contacts.
Even with the latest negative tests, authorities in both countries are maintaining the same precautions as contact tracing continues across passengers and flight exposures linked to the voyage. France said routine communication of results would stop unless a positive test emerged, and the Netherlands has kept quarantine rules in place for all people who had been on board. The World Health Organization has said the broader public risk remains low, but health agencies are continuing surveillance until the monitoring period ends.